Nowadays, four kinds of computers are available -- workstations, internet servers, special communications computers and personal or home computers. Used in homes, businesses and schools, desktop computers are relatively cheaper and modular.
Upgrading or substituting components of desktop computers is not difficult and various elegant cases and styles are available. Desktop computers are able to multitask, performing video editing, internet browsing, office work and digital photography at the same time.
Manufactured by Micro Instrumentation Telemetry System (MITS) 8800, the first desktop computer system appeared in 1975. With this offer, many other companies became interested in producing personal computers. In 1977, Tandy Corporation (Radio Shack) launched its first personal computer with a keyboard and CRT, while Apple II and Commodore PET, which are now the market leaders, released their first models.
The PC marked a turning point when IBM introduced it in 1981, with the Intel 8088 microprocessor based device becoming a success. The 16-bit microprocessor led to more powerful devices. Standardisation was possible, as the IBM PC possessed an operating system that could be incorporated to any other computer. The Apple Mac PC, which ran on Motorola 68000, was another popular 32-bit PC that Apple launched in 1984.
A contemporary computer would come with CPU, display motherboard, primary storage (RAM), and keyboard, mouse, power supply, optical disc drive, expansion cards and secondary storage (HDD).
All the desktop computers had ports for plugging to devices like keyboards, monitors, scanners and printers. These ports may be for power connection, headphone, modem, card reader, PS/2, VGA, universal serial bus, firewire, ethernet, serial and parallel.
Detailed guidelines are available on the net that one should consult before purchasing a desktop. Making a choice between an Intel processor and AMD can be difficult. The relative speed and the number of cores in the processor constitute the main difference in the matter.
For the system, at least 1 GB of memory is advisable and the older DDR memory standard is better eschewed, as faster memories mean better performance and future upgrades should be possible.
Having at least 250 GB is desirable. Usually, in most drives, serial ATA interface offers easy installation.
It is best to keep a Multi format DVD burner that supports +R/RW and -R/RW with a 16x recordable speed. Integrated graphics should suffice if 3D graphics are not required. One should pay attention to the memory capacity and performance of the card, the direct X version which it supports, and the output connectors. To run games smoothly, getting a direct x 10 card with 256 MB memory would be good.
To facilitate upgrading and adding peripherals to computers, external interfaces are preferred to internal cards. IEEE 1394 or FireWire points and USB 2.0 should be present in a desktop computer.
Today, LCDs have over taken CRTs monitors, as LCDs are smaller and consume less power. Larger display screens have also become more popular than the 4:3 ratio screens, and the lowered prices of 20-22 inch models are also encouraging.
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